Get started! Feel the love!

16 May

Baking is an exact science.  A chemical reaction needs to occur for the recipe to work.  Cooking is the opposite.  Its a little of this and a pinch of that.  Cooking can change with your mood, what you have available, or who will be eating it.  Thats what I love.

I am a touchy feely feel good person, and so is my food.  I make a recipe as it appears the first time.  I take it for a test drive and make it pretty much as it appears in print…but that is just a starting point!  Then I drive it my way!   Then I grab my pen and add notes.  My cookbooks are filled with notes of how recipes turned out, what changes to make, and if it should be made again.   And everyone should know this little secret…when looking through someone’s cherished cookbooks, the pages with drips, dribbles and stains on them contain a very special recipe!  that is a dead give away that a recipe on that page has been used many times!   Mine are certainly that way.  I would like to think that these books will be cherished many years after I am gone and that it is what my kids will fight over…but I digress!

I write these notes next to the actual recipe.  I also have a 3 ring binder in case I print a recipe off of the internet.  I can 3 hole punch a printed page or a ripped out magazine recipe and add it in…if it is deemed worthy!   Cooking takes experience, and it can be a little scary to begin.  I get a little mad if I make a dish that does not turn out and my ingredients and efforts are wasted.  But wasted is the wrong word to use.  When you learn something, it is not time wasted!  Just have a backup plan in the freezer to pull out just in case!  

I understand that it can be a little intimidating to begin cooking.  But do it anyway.  You know the old saying that everyone should ask themselves…”What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”.  Get over your fear and start having fun!  When starting, try a recipe that does not have expensive or complicated ingredients.  Then jump in and go for it!  Have fun!  And don’t forget to add your own personal touch!  Feel the love!  Give your self and your family a little of yourself.

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salad splendor

21 Apr

Spring is here…well for many of us!   Some folks are still braving some pretty cold weather, but spring is here, at least by calendar standards!  No matter what the weather outside is telling us, it is April.  Farmers markets, with beautiful fresh ingredients, are opening up. It is time to stroll through the farmers market and get some nutritious crisp vegetables.   Get ready to dress those vegetables up nice and pretty.  And put away that bottle!

Okay, so I am not going to put Hidden Valley Ranch out of business.  But I can certainly make a better salad dressing than they can!  I can tailor my salad dressing to any taste and to any salad.   Dressing out of a bottle?  How passé!  Showcase those beautiful vegetables and make a delicious salad dressing yourself!  It is simple and takes only moments.  Here we go!

Vinaigrette

  • 1/2 c. Olive Oil
  • 1/4 c. vinegar (I get creative with this, as there are many flavorful vinegars to choose from. My favorite “go to” is balsamic.)
  • 1 T. Lemon juice
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 T. Dijon mustard
  • 1 t. honey (optional)

Whip ingredients together with a fork.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning if necessary.  Serve!

Salad dressings are great fun to adjust to taste.  This vinaigrette is just a starting point, so go have fun with it.  Put in a little more of this, a little less of that, and make the fresh spring vegetables on your dinner table shine.  I use this vinaigrette on sandwiches too.  I like putting lettuce, arugula, bell and banana peppers on a deli style sandwich, and this dressing really adds delicious bold flavor kick to a sandwich when drizzled over the vegetables.

So have a salad, or top off a sandwich, enjoy these lovely spring vegetables and dress them up with a yummy fresh vinaigrette!

Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing

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Fun Food!

12 Apr

Food is center stage in my home quite often.  The kitchen is truly the heart of our family home, and I love hanging out there.  When I say that food is important to my family, I don’t mean constantly eating junk laden food.  Taking the time to prepare food with family is enormously rewarding.  It is a family value and time well spent together in a warm comfortable accepting environment.

My children have always felt welcome inviting their friends over for meals.  My youngest son recently said “mom, my friends asked me what my mom would do if you told her 30 friends were coming over.  I told them that you would say…Are they staying for dinner?”.  He said it in a matter of fact way.  He meant it.  And he was right!  That is the true heart, the essence of my home for which I am truly grateful.  My children’s friends are welcome, and they know it.  My friends too.  I love a home filled with friends, family, food and fun!

We have great meals and nutritious food, but we have loads of fun too.  I enjoy cooking, but am not much of a baker.  I can sure improvise though.  And have a blast.  My kids do too!  I love to cook, but the teeny tiny side of me that bakes rears its ugly head every now and again.  Not really one for cookies, I turn to making cakes with the children.  We put a spin on it though.  We will make fun cakes for most any occasion!

My daughter Delaney and her friends Lorena making the traditional "Bunny Cake" for Easter! So Fun!

My daughter Delaney and her friends Lorena making the traditional “Bunny Cake” for Easter! So Fun!

When we make cakes, we use a high quality cake mix.  Those work just fine for non bakers like myself.  But I always make the frosting from scratch.  I learned how to make out of this world frosting from my mom.  She very wisely advised me to “always make a little too much frosting by accident”.  Was she ever right!  I was never voted Prom Queen, but when I make frosting I am Prom Queen for a moment..the most popular girl ever!  What do I mean by popular?  Let me tell you!

When I bust out my frosting, a line forms in the kitchen.  Kids.  Denis.  His mom.  Everyone lines up to grab a spoonful of frosting before it makes its way to the cake.  Everyone but my youngest son that is.  The baby of the family (I am one too!) is a scrappy bunch.  We learn survival of the fittest at a very young age!  Anywhooo, my son doesn’t grab a spoon and stand in line. Nope, not him.  The moment he notices a naked cake cooling on the counter and a stick of butter nearby softening, he loudly “calls the beater”.  Now that is the holy grail when making frosting, let me tell you!  He is a smart kid.  No line, no waiting, and a solid guarantee of a good dose of moms incredible buttercream frosting.  Yup, that’s my boy!

But I digress!  Back to the cakes.  I do not have lots of room in my kitchen for a bunch of specialty cake pans.  So I improvise.  I make 2 round cakes, or a round cake and a square one,  and cut it to fit the occasion.  I have also made a rectangle cake for my sons, and with colored frosting made everything from a football field cake with action figures to a construction site cake with matchbox bulldozers.  So much fun, and the creativity flows.  Food should be fun, so go have a blast!

Our fun bunny cake!

Our fun bunny cake!

Our heart cake for Valentines Day.

Our heart cake for Valentines Day.

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What’s for Dinner?

9 Apr

My friend  Beth hates this question.  I love it.  For me, it is the creative ending to my busy day.  A chance to express my artsy side.  Hanging out in the kitchen is a time for family to connect after a long day.  Sometimes I will stop at the grocery on the way home from work if I want to make something fresh, like fish.  But usually, I just head to my fridge, freezer and pantry.  Then I unleash the creative juices!

So last night, this is what I pulled out for dinner.

  • Fresh leftover veggies including tomatoes, mushrooms, and yellow squash.
  • Boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • Penne pasta (dried in the box)
  • Italian bread, 1/2 loaf pulled from the freezer
  • 1/2 cup leftover pesto
  • a hunk of parmesan cheese

And that, my friends, was dinner.  I started with the chicken.  I seasoned the meat simply, with salt, pepper, and herb de Provence.  After starting the grill and letting it get hot, I plopped the chicken on there to cook.  Meanwhile, I started a pot of water to boil, and then cut the veggies up.

When the chicken was done, I brought it back inside and tented it with some tin foil.  It is a perfect way for meat to stay hot and juicy, and meat should always “rest” for 10-20 minutes prior to serving.   Then I tossed the pasta into the water for its 10 minute boil time and sautéed the veggies in a bit of olive oil.  I seasoned the veggies with a bit of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and some basil.  Simple.

These are the veggies that I sauteed for dinner!

These are the veggies that I sautéed for dinner!

As the pasta finished cooking,  my son set the table.  It was, after all, Manners Monday, so we talked about table settings and appropriate dinner conversation topics.  In my home, while I cook the other family members (and even guests!) are helping to get the meal on the table.  Meals are, after all, a family affair, and all should be present and participating.  Setting the table, pouring water, placing napkins out…these are all necessary prior to the meal coming to the table.  Everyone pitches in.   And to keep the mood light and joyful, I always have music playing.

Okay, so next I drained the pasta, chopped up the chicken, finished sautéing the veggies and tossed it all together back in my big stock pot that the pasta cooked in.  Conserving dishes is important on most work nights!  We loaded up our plates and to the table we went.  Quick, nutritious, homemade, and voila!  A family meal, and moment, came together.  Try it.  What’s in your fridge?  What are you making for dinner?

Dinner! Pasta and veggies with pesto, and crusty bread! Yummy and easy!

Dinner! Pasta and veggies with pesto, and crusty bread! Yummy and easy!

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Burger Bonanza!

24 Mar

Variety is the spice of life.  And all things in moderation.  These are 2 rules I use when including red meat in my diet.  Red meat has health benefits, but I also understand and respect folks that abstain from it.  I have worked in clinical nutrition for well over a decade, and have loads of both cooking classes food science classes under my belt.  I respect all forms of healthful eating, morals of food choices, and religious dietary laws.  But I am of christian faith and do not have religious dietary restrictions on a day to day basis that restrict my dietary choices.  I eat, and in fact crave, a red meat every now and again.  Last night was one of those occasions.  I really wanted a burger, and luckily, so did Denis!

We decided that a good fresh burger on the grill was in order for dinner.  Being a foodie, grabbing preformed generic burgers at the grocer is just not acceptable.  Denis and I were making the burgers, and began discussing not only the burger, but the all important toppings.  Now I have picked many people’s brain about burgers and toppings.  A wide variety of folks, including food writers such as William Rice, local restauranteurs in the South, and even a highly esteemed chef from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris.  Let me tell you, this is a hot topic!  But I digress.

Denis is a foodie just as passionate (read nutty, as most foodies attest to!) about food as I am.  You know that you are a foodie when you talk about a future meal while eating a current (and outstanding!) one.  So we were having this fantastic post workout protein fest in the morning, but needed more.  We had an intense workout and were craving a big burger.  A big naughty one!  A real flavor buster!  We decided to go to the butcher for some good fresh ground meat, and season the high quality meat with none other than garlic.  We wanted a real flavor pop.  We then started considering the critical tipping point of a great burger…the toppings.

Once again throwing caution to the wind in regards to our breath (after all, we were loading up our precooked burgers with garlic!), we decided that we would caramelize some onions and mushrooms to top our burger.  Yum!   But those can be a bit sloppy to pile onto a burger.  Solution?  A brilliant one!  It was one that we would have to experiment with, but if a foodie isn’t pushing the envelope a bit, then you just aren’t a true foodie!  (We are a snobby bunch in that regard!)  Denis pushed a little indentation in the middle of the burger leaving a little room to pile on the onions and mushrooms.

Here is the home made burger prior to cooking with a little indentation for the toppings.

Here is the home made burger prior to cooking with a little indentation for the toppings.

As Denis worked on the burgers, I set out carmelizing the onions.  I took sliced onions and put them into a piping hot cast iron skillet that had a little butter and olive oil bubbling away.  As the onions sautéed, I deglazed the pan with a few tablespoons of red wine.  That added a nice undertone of flavor to the onions.  When those were soft and translucent, I tossed in 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms.  I usually use an assortment of mushrooms, as now the grocery store carries them already conveniently sliced up and recipe ready.  The wonderful aromas filling the kitchen were amazing.

Delicious onions and mushrooms cooking for our burger topping!

Delicious onions and mushrooms cooking for our burger topping!

Burgers are not complete, in my book, without lettuce or some good greens piled on regardless of the other toppings.  I’ve said it before and I will say it again…I love a salad on my sandwich!  Anywhoooo…we went on to build our burgers.  And they were spectacular.  I eat red meat sparingly, so I like it to really count.  And count it did with these loaded burgers!  We had a fresh crisp romaine salad and oven baked potato wedges to round out our meal.  And our breath wasn’t bad at all!  Well, we didn’t think so.  The others around us might have had a different opinion!  But the “death breath” was sure worth it!  Garlic and onions have loads of health benefits, but thats a tale for another day!

Denis has named his new burger concoction the “Make Room For All The Good Stuff In Life” burger.  Love it!  What are you going to fit on your burger?

See? The top of the bun fit on the burger just fine! This burger was piled high with onions, mushrooms, and lettuce.

See? The top of the bun fit on the burger just fine! This burger was piled high with onions, mushrooms, and lettuce.

P.S.  We weren’t sure if the burger would cook evenly with the indent in it.  No worries.  It grilled up evenly and beautifully!  And also a word about cooking wine.  I use drinking wine when I cook.  Recipes usually call for very little wine, so use good wine.  Please…never buy  ”cooking wine” in the grocery store.  Yes, it is labeled as such.  Use something that you would drink.  If I have some wine left in a bottle, I have frozen it in an ice cube tray to use at a later time.  It is the perfect amount to use in a sauce for deglazing a pan.

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Tale of a Saturday morning

18 Mar

Today is just a regular Saturday.  I got up, did a load of laundry, and made a big lunch for my son heading out to a long day of life guarding class.  While I was doing this, I nibbled on a bagel.  Trying to shake the long week off, I head to the gym for  a workout with Denis.

At the gym, we hopped on some treadmills for a good 40 minute run.  Then we headed over to the free weights for a little strength training.  Such a great start to the weekend!  We zipped on back home, and were surprised that the workout didn’t leave us super hungry.  Peculiar, I thought, as we usually have a pretty healthy appetite!  But knowing post workout major food craving comes on fast and strong, I decided to make something when we got home anyway.  Eating some protein after a workout is important.  Since it was still morning, I thought eggs would work for the post workout nibbler.  And what better way to eat eggs than a big honkin frittata?  (Okay, maybe deviled eggs, but that’s a story for another day!). There were 2 goals here-a great post workout dish plus plenty of leftovers for my teenagers!

I went the fridge and pulled out 1/2 dozen eggs.  Then I started digging.  My frittata would be totally dependent on what was on hand.  As Denis would say, I am the best refrigerator cook he knows.  I can pull any meal together with the odds and ends in my kitchen.  I dug into the pantry, the freezer, and the fridge.  Here is what I pulled out:

4 pieces of uncooked leftover bacon

1/4 bag leftover frozen hash brown style potatoes

1/2 an onion

1 package frozen chopped spinach

jar of roasted red peppers

6 eggs

skim milk

A chunk of sharp cheddar cheese

First, I got my trusty ol’ cast iron skillet out.  Then I turned the oven to 450 to preheat.  Next, I cut the left over bacon into small pieces  and tossed it into the skillet, which was on medium high heat.  That started sizzling, and I cracked the eggs into a mixing bowl.  To cut down on the fat, I used 4 whole eggs and 2 with the whites only.  I whipped those while the bacon was cooking, and added about 3/4 cup skim milk.  I let that sit.  While I was working on that, Denis chopped 1/2 the  onion, 1/2 the jar of roasted red peppers, and shredded about 1/2 cup of the cheese.

When the bacon was done, I scooped it out of the skillet and put it on some paper towels to soak up the grease.   I tossed the chopped onion and the potatoes into the still hot skillet.  That started cooking.  I cooked it, stirring twice, until the onions were translucent  and the potatoes soft, about 4-5 minutes.  While that was cooking, I put the package of frozen spinach in the microwave to thaw, then squeezed it dry.  After the onion and potatoes were cooked, in went the red peppers and spinach.  I gave everything a good solid stir and let it heat through.

After about 2 minutes I gently poured the egg mixture into the pan.  I gave the whole thing a good stir.   Only one.  That was it.  The heat was still medium high, and I left the skillet on the heat until the eggs started to set, about 4 minutes.  I sprinkled the cheese on top, then popped it into the oven for 10 minutes.  I toasted some whole wheat bread to accompany the frittata.  It was a yummy dish, I used up some leftovers, and it was ready in a snap.  With all the vegetables I added, it was also packed with nutrients.

So what is in your pantry, your fridge, your freezer?  Have some fun, get creative, and whip up something fun!

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Go Orange!

15 Mar

We tend to eat familiar colors. For example, most of us are really familiar with  garden or green salads.  Many of us may even eat them on a regular basis.  Variety is critical in a well balanced diet and to wellness, and green salads can be an easy way to get a variety of vegetables.

But let’s get past the green.  I have blogged about eating 5 colors a day.  Counting colors is also a great way to get a wonderful array of vitamins and minerals.  One of the reasons that variety is so important in our diet is because the pigment, or color, in food has health benefits.  The colors in the fruit and vegetables have antioxidants, as well as fiber, potassium, vitamin c and calcium.  In other words, they are loaded with nutrients.  But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Here is where I will challenge you.  Stick to salads if you must, but increase variety by adding the following to your daily intake.  Here is the rub…add in an unlikely color to your intake, that color being orange and yellow.

Oranges
Grapefruit
Lemons
Bananas
Apricots
Nectarines
Mangos
Peaches
Cantaloupe
Pineapple
Papaya
Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Pumpkin
Squash
Corn
Orange and yellow bell peppers

Just look at these exciting options!  So when you are grocery shopping next time, look for the orange and the yellow in your produce section.  Get outside of that comfort zone.  Think variety and spice up your life!  Now you have a list of great fruits and veggies to try, so go for it!

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